You can set unique properties for individual MS-DOS - based applications. You may want to do this to customize the way an application runs or if the default properties that Windows 95 uses do not work correctly.
An application's settings are recorded in its application information file (PIF). Windows 95 has no separate PIF Editor. To configure an application, right-click the application's executable file, and then click Properties. Any settings you change in the Properties dialog box are recorded in the PIF file.
When you replace Windows 3.1 with Windows 95, PIFs are upgraded to the Windows 95 format. All existing settings should be preserved, but you may want to verify that they have been.
Windows 95 first searches for a PIF in the directory that contains the executable file you are starting. If Windows 95 cannot find a PIF there, it searches the Windows PIF directory. If there is no PIF in the Windows PIF directory, Windows 95 searches the path specified in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If no PIF is found, Windows 95 searches the APPS.INF file for a match.
If Windows 95 does not find an entry for an application in the APPS.INF file, it uses default settings for the application. If you replace Windows 3.1 with Windows 95, a _DEFAULT.PIF file remains in the directory. In this case, Windows 95 uses information in the _DEFAULT.PIF file to create a PIF for the application.
If you do not have a _DEFAULT.PIF file and want to create one, you can do so by copying the DOSPRMPT.PIF to _DEFAULT.PIF.
Regardless of how the settings for an application are initially established, you can change them by right-clicking the application's executable file, and then clicking Properties. For more information, see the section "Understanding the APPS.INF File" later in this chapter.
Note
You can run a batch file using that batch file's settings by typing its name directly at the command prompt or in the Run dialog box. To run a batch file using the settings of the command prompt (COMMAND.COM), precede the name of the batch file with command /c; for example, command /c myfile.bat.